LECTURE  . 


O N 


C \t  present  CmtWwn 


320.94609034 

W158£ 


AND 


R0SPE0TS  OF  SPAIN: 


DELIVERED  BEFORE 


THE  MARYLAND  INSTITUTE 


FOR  THE  PROMOTION  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS, 


By  S.  T.  WALLIS,  Esq. 


MARCH  12,  1852, 


1 UTILE 


Published  at  the  Request  of  the  Institute  - 


BALTIMORE: 

PRINTED  AND  PUBLISHED  BY  JOHN  MURPHY  & CO. 

No.  178  Market  Street. 


1852. 


UNlVERS'TV  2*1 

ILUNOIS 

M urban^champ 


t ! j 


LECTURE 


O N 

f | t present  Cmtiriiimt 

AND 

PROSPECTS  OF  SPAIN: 


DELIVERED  BEFORE 


THE  MARYLAND  INSTITUTE 

FOR  THE  PROMOTION  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS, 

By  S.  T.  WALLIS,  Esq. 

MARCH  12,  1852. 

Published  at  the  Request  of  the  Institute . 


BALTIMORE: 

PRINTED  AND  PUBLISHED  BY  JOHN  MURPHY  & CO. 

No.  178  Market  Street. 


185*2. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/lectureonpresent00wall_0 


Maryland  Institute,  Baltimore,  March  15,  1852. 
To  S.  Teackle  Wallis,  Esq. 

Sir: — I regret  to  learn  that  you  cannot  comply  witth  the  request  of  the 
Committee  on  Lectures  to  repeat  the  Lecture  delivered  by  you  before  the  Insti- 
tute on  the  evening  of  the  12th  instant. 

The  gratification  afforded  by  your  admirable  production,  to  the  intelligent 
auditory  assembled  on  the  occasion,  and  the  disappointment  of  a very  large 
number  of  ladies  and  gentlemen,  who,  from  the  crowded  state  of  the  Hall, 
were  unable  to  gain  admission,  have  caused  a strong  desire  to  obtain  the  dis- 
course in  print,  for  perusal  and  preservation. 

In  response,  therefore,  to  the  general  wish,  and  on  behalf  of  the  Managers 
and  Members  of  the  Maryland  Institute,  I take  pleasure  in  soliciting  you  to 
place  in  the  possession  of  the  Committee  on  Lectures  the  manuscript  for  publi- 
cation. 

With  high  regard, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

JOSHUA  YANSANT,  President 
Maryland  Institute. 


St.  Paul  Street,  March  15,  1852. 

Joshua  Yansant,  Esq. 

President  Maryland  Institute , &{C. 

Sir: — I am  greatly  indebted  to  the  Managers  and  Members  of  the  Mary- 
land Institute,  for  the  favorable  consideration  they  have  done  me  the  honor  to 
express,  through  you,  in  your  courteous  letter  of  this  morning. 

As  a portion  of  the  historical  matter,  which  my  lecture  contains,  will  proba- 
bly be  published  hereafter,  in  a more  formal  shape,  and  I hope,  a more 
instructive  connexion,  I should  prefer,  on  my  own  account,  postponing  its 
appearance,  altogether,  till  that  time.  I feel,  however,  that  the  kindness  of  my 
reception,  [and  of  your  present  request  leaves  me  no  alternative  but  that  of 
placing  the  manuscript  at  your  disposal. 

I shall,  therefore,  very  cheerfully  hand  it  to  your  Committee,  and 
Am,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

S.  T.  WALLIS. 


Jxo.  ‘HGoq 

w is-srx 


ITtttoe  0ti 


It  is  not  altogether  my  fault,  if  the  topics  to  which  I shall  in- 
vite your  attention,  have  but  little  direct  relation  to  the  peculiar 
objects  of  the  Institution  at  the  request  of  whose  officers  I am 
before  you.  The  narrative — for  it  is  but  little  more — which  I am 
about  to  present  you,  was  prepared  for  a different  purpose,  and 
had  already  answered  that  purpose,  well  or  ill,  when  the  Man- 
agers of  the  Institute  did  me  the  honor  to  insist  that  I should  make 
it  part  of  the  course  in  which  I had  promised  to  participate. 
The  historical  shape  which  it  necessarily  assumes,  leaves  but 
little  room,  at  the  best,  for  that  sort  of  attraction  which  is  now 
generally  sought  in  the  lecture-room.  It  is  not  my  object  to  aim 
at  anything  of  the  kind.  I shall  be  content  if  you  will  allow 
me,  as  unambitiously  as  may  be,  to  diffuse  a little  information 
upon  a subject  which  few  persons  take  the  trouble  to  investigate, 
but  which  has  occupied  a good  deal  of  my  observation  and 
leisure.  It  may  be  the  means  of  removing  a few,  out  of  many, 
prejudices  which  have  riped  and  riped,  until  it  is  now  well  nigh 
time  for  them  to  rot  and  rot. 

Our  actual  relations  with  Spain  and  her  magnificent  and 
much  coveted  dependency,  the  Island  of  Cuba,  should  render 
a just  idea  of  the  political  situation  and  prospects  of  that  ancient 
kingdom  particularly  desirable  to  us  at  this  moment.  The 
eminently  attractive  point  of  view  too,  in  which  the  reigning 
Monarch  has  recently  presented  herself  to  us — dispensing,  with 
a womanly  heart  and  a free  hand,  the  blessed  prerogative  of 
mercy — should  incline  us  to  regard,  not  only  with  interest,  but 
with  a warm  and  partial  interest,  the  institutions  which  support 


6 


her  throne.  So  far  as  the  higher  walks  of  literature  are  con- 
cerned, we  have  certainly  done  our  part  as  a nation,  towards 
illustrating  the  glorious  past  of  the  Peninsula.  We  have  dedi- 
cated to  it  the  learning  and  taste  of  Ticknor,  the  graceful  inspi- 
ration of  Longfellow,  and  the  genius  and  eloquence  of  Prescott 
and  Irving.  But  as  a general  rule,  with  rare  exceptions,  it  is 
hardly  possible  for  anything  to  surpass . the  grossness  of  the 
ignorance  which  is  displayed  by  our  public  prints  in  regard  to 
the  present  social  and  political  condition  of  the  Spaniards,  the 
nature  of  their  government,  and  the  effect  and  tendency  of  their 
institutions.  A large  proportion  of  the  graver  and  more  re- 
sponsible sources  of  information  are  tainted  with  the  same 
vice,  and  it  really  seems  as  if  there  were  a combination  between 
journalists,  travellers,  and  sketch-writers,  to  justify,  in  the  pre- 
mises, the  outbreak  of  Walpole  against  history — “Oh!  tell  me 
not  of  that,  for  that  I know  to  be  a lie!” 

I must  not,  of  course,  be  understood  as  pretending  to  any 
monopoly  of  fairness  or  accuracy  in  either  the  facts  or  the  de- 
ductions I shall  give  you.  I profess  nothing  more  than  to  have 
examined  the  matter  carefully,  impartially,  and  for  myself,  with 
advantages  not  every  day  enjoyed,  and  facilities  which  I did  my 
best,  in  an  humble  way,  to  render  usefully  available. 

If  you  take  up  one  of  the  multitudinous  school-books  of  your 
children — a geography  or  history,  for  example — and  turn  to  the 
title  “Spain,”  there  is  eveiy  probability  that  you  will  find  it 
headed,  according  to  the  prevalent  pictorial  fashion,  with  a wood- 
cut,  representing  a fandango , or  a bull-fight,  or  a man  with  a 
sugar-loaf  hat  and  breeches,  who  is  thrumming  on  a guitar, 
under  a grated  window.  I have  occasionally  seen  such  books, 
not  long  back,  with  prints  of  heretics,  in  long  gowns  and  fools’ 
caps— th^eir  hands  tied  behind  them,  and  a crowd  of  shaven  and 
ferocious  looking  monks  brandishing  crucifixes  in  their  faces! 
Now,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Inquisition  did  once  exist 
in  Spain,  and  men  burned  each  other — 

“ quite  persuaded 

That  all  the  Apostles  would  have  done  as  they  did,” — 

but  it  is  more  than  seventy  j^ears  since  the  last  random  blaze  of 
the  autos  de  fe  was  put  out!  Bull-fighting  is  unquestionably  a 
popular  amusement  there  still,  and  to  me,  I am  sorry  to  confess, 


7 


an  exceedingly  fascinating  one,  in  spite  of  its  cruelty.  It  is 
quite  true  that  men  do  dance  in  Spain,  and  make  love,  and  use 
their  guitars  and  voices  for  the  purpose,  especially  in  Andalusia — 
where,  as  elsewhere,  love-making  is  regarded  as  a charming 
sport,  though  dangerous!  But  bull-fighting,  and  dancing,  and 
the  singing  of  love-songs  are  not  all  of  life  there,  notwithstand- 
ing. The  national  existence  means  something  more  than  that 
comes  to.  Men  have  cravings  there,  like  other  men,  for  some- 
thing higher  and  better  than  the  Barmecide  feast  of  pleasure. 
In  the  name  then  of  true  knowledge  and  honest  teaching,  why 
should  education  be  thus  debased  into  a scheme  for  the  inculca- 
tion and  perpetuation  of  prejudices?  Are  we  to  see  nations 
painted  only  in  the  colors  of  their  follies  or  their  vices?  To 
make  them  understand  and  respect  each  other — to  teach  them 
what  is  good  in  their  fellows — is  the  best  way  of  keeping  them 
friends,  and  preserving  the  peace  of  the  world.  To  fill  them 
with  false  notions  of  each  other — to  make  them  despise  each 
other — is  to  whip  the  horses  of  war.  In  national,  as  in  social 
intercourse,  it  is  the  trifle,  that  goads  and  irritates  and  nourishes 
ill-blood.  Questions  of  principle,  between  nations  as  between 
men,  are  easily  understood  and  easily  settled,  where  neither 
prejudice  nor  passion  distorts  them.  All  men  agree  upon  them, 
in  the  main,  and  the  world’s  opinion  is  an  arbitrament  which 
nations  in  the  main  obey.  But  it  requires  an  approved  Christian 
to  do  justice,  much  less  charity,  where  he  despises  or  feels  con- 
tempt, and  still  more,  where  he  is  despised  or  contemned,  and 
can  retaliate.  Nations,  I am  afraid,  are  sorry  Christians  at  best, 
and  cannot,  at  all  events,  be  relied  on  for  the  exercise  of  the 
virtues  that  become  them  as  such,  to  any  greater  extent  than 
individual  sinners. 

It  is  in  this  point  of  view  that  it  becomes  every  lover  of  peace 
and  justice  to  set  his  face  against  the  barbarous  system  of  poison- 
ing the  youthful  mind,  to  which  I have  alluded.  It  is  for  this, 
that  it  becomes  every  man  who  has  had  access  to  the  truth  to 
show  it  forth  when  he  can.  It  is  this  system  of  caricature — 
originating  partly  in  our  inheritance  of  English  prejudice  and 
partly  in  religious  bias — the  odium  theologicum , that  worst  of 
hatreds — it  is  this  system  of  ridicule  and  injustice — which  has  ut- 
terly destroyed  the  sympathy  we  ought  to  feel  for  a great,  mag- 
nanimous and  loyal  people.  It  is  this  which  makes  us  forget  the 


8 


patriotism  and  endurance  that  have  carried  the  Spanish  people 
in  honor  and  triumph,  through  struggle  after  struggle,  long  and 
bloody,  for  their  national  integrity  and  independence.  It  is  this 
which  makes  us  continue,  in  the  face  of  fact  and  in  the  light  of 
knowledge,  to  despise,  as  the  slaves  of  a despotism,  the  subjects  of 
a constitutional  monarchy — a people  in  whose  hearts  and  cus- 
toms is  implanted  as  much  of  the  spirit  of  proud  personal  inde- 
pendence and  high-toned  nationality,  as  much  of  genuine  man- 
liness, and  true  chivalry,  and  scorn  of  wrong  and  baseness,  as 
in  any  people  upon  either  continent! 

The  Spanish  government,  I have  said,  is  a Constitutional 
Monarchy.  It  is,  I confess,  as  fully  entitled  to  the  appellation 
from  the  number  of  the  organic  laws  it  has  had,  as  from  their 
nature.  The  first,  the  Constitution  of  1812,  Vas  framed  during 
the  absence  of  Ferdinand  YII,  in  captivity  in  France,  by  the  many 
eminent  and  patriotic  men  who  had  been  most  active  in  devoting 
themselves  and  their  fortunes  to  the  maintenance  of  the  national 
independence  against  Napoleon.  Loyal  as  well  as  patriotic, 
they  had  taken  no  advantage  of  their  king’s  long  absence,  to 
weaken  his  legitimate  authority  or  sap  the  foundations  of  his 
throne.  They  had  done  nothing  without  his  declared  and  ap- 
parently sincere  approbation,  and  when  at  last  he  was  about  to 
return  to  the  sceptre  of  his  ancestors,  it  was  the  pride  of  the 
good  and  brave  men  who  had  preserved  it  for  him,  that  they 
had  made  him  and  his  descendants  secure  in  its  possession,  by 
linking  the  dignity  and  honor  of  the  monarch  with  the  hap- 
piness and  freedom  of  the  people.  The  defects  of  the  Con- 
stitution were  no  doubt  many — such  as  it  was  impossible  to 
avoid,  in  engrafting  a free  representative  system  upon  the  habits 
and  traditions  of  an  eminently  monarchical  and  long  oppressed 
country.  But  its  framers  kept  continually  before  them  the  sub- 
ordination of  the  crown  to  the  law,  and  the  protection  of  the 
rights  of  all  classes,  from  the  encroachments  of  both  lawless- 
ness and  power.  During  the  short  period  of  their  sway,  the 
first  Constitutional  Cortes  reformed  many  abuses,  ecclesiastical 
and  political,  and  established  much  that  was  wise,  liberal,  and 
of  hopeful  promise. 

The  first  act  of  the  restored  king,  however,  was  to  avail  him- 
self of  the  enthusiasm  produced  by  his  return,  to  overthrow  the 
Constitution,  forswear  the  oath  he  had  voluntarily  taken  to 


9 


support  it,  and  repudiate  and  anathematize  whatever  had  been 
done  for  freedom  in  his  name.  To  the  faithful  servants,  who 
had  devoted  themselves  through  blood  and  fire  to  their  country 
and  to  him,  but  had  been  guilty  of  the  sin  of  constitutionalism, 
dungeons  and  chains  were  the  mildest  testimonials  of  his  grati- 
tude. All  that  was  wise,  and  eloquent,  and  liberal,  and  good, 
in  the  land,  was  sent  into  exile,  poverty  and  sorrow.  Despotism 
became  more  despotic  than  ever,  for  it  was  the  despotism  of  a 
treacherous  and  unprincipled  reaction. 

From  1820  to  1823,  there  was  a brief  revival  of  constitutional 
rule.  But  'those  were  the  days,  in  Europe,  of  congresses  of 
kings,  and  holy  alliances — of  the  balance  of  power,  the  right 
divine,  and  sacred  restorations.  We,  in  this  country,  had  not 
been  favored  then  with  any  Hungarian  revelations,  as  to  the 
sense  of  the  word  u intervention,”  or  the  meaning  of  the  Wash- 
ingtonian Policy.  In  the  face  of  the  whole  world,  'therefore, 
the  Due  d’Angouleme,  in  1823,  marched  from  the  Bidasoa  to 
Cadiz,  to  crush  for  Ferdinand  what  he  could  not  crush  for  him- 
self— to  stifle  the  struggles  of  a people  who  meant,  and  were 
able  to  be,  and  but  for  him  would  have  been  free.  The  deed  was 
soon  done,  and  when  the  exiles  of  that  strife  were  scattered  the 
wide  world  over,  there  is  no  tradition  that  a national  cock-boat, 
even,  was  sent  with  a greeting  to  one  of  them,  or  that  one  generous 
wine-cup  was  emptied  to  the  hopes  of  their  u down- trod  den  ” 
land.  It  was  some  consolation  to  them,  however,  that  if  they 
lost  the  banquets  of  these  days,  they  were  likewise  spared  the 
hand-shaking  and  the  speeches! 

From  1823,  down  to  the  death  of  Ferdinand  VII,  in  1833, 
the  picture  is  all  shadow.  It  is  hard  to  say  whether  folly  or 
iniquity  was  the  predominant  characteristic  of  that  very  foolish 
and  wicked  man.  His  only  objects  in  life  were  power,  ven- 
geance, and  the  gratification  of  his  appetites.  His  policy  had 
but  two  departments,  force  and  fraud.  His  only  address  was 
falsehood,  and  when  it  was  not  necessary  to  him  as  an  instru- 
ment, he  sported  with  it  as  an  accomplishment,  or  enjoyed  it  as 
a luxury.  He  hated  constitutions  because  they  trammelled 
him.  He  hated  reform  even  when  it  did  him  no  harm,  because 
the  constitutionalists  were  reformers,  and  had  befriended  him, 
and  had  shed  their  blood  for  him,  and  he  hated  them.  Having 
no  idea  of  government,  except  as  the  exercise  of  his  own  will, 
2 


10 


he  found  the  ancient  traditions  of  his  kingdom  as  objectionable 
as  the  new  lights,  and  he  loved  them  all  the  less,  because  he 
understood  none  of  them.  Religion — though  he  professed  it 
sturdily,  went  through  its  forms  ostentatiously,  and  clung  to  it, 
like  a bad  coward,  when  death  terrified  him — he  practically 
valued  only  as  a lever  of  government.  Education  and  literature 
he  discouraged,  because  he  knew  nothing  about  them,  and  had 
an  indefinite  idea  that  they  were  not  to  be  trusted.  Men  of 
learning  and  talent  he  drove  as  far  away  from  him  as  possible, 
being,  to  use  a phrase  of  Lord  Chesterfield’s,  “as  much  afraid 
of  them  as  a woman  is  of  a gun,  which  she  thinks  may  go  off 
of  itself  and  do  her  a mischief.”  He  had,  in  fine,  no  sympathy 
with  the  feelings  of  his  people,  because  he  had  no  heart,  and 
none  with  their  intellectual  yearnings,  because  he  had  no  head. 
The  only  good  thing  he  ever  did  was  to  die,  and  he  did  that,  so 
history  records,  as  slowly  and  unsatisfactorily-  as  possible,  hav- 
ing never  learned,  in  all  his  vicissitudes,  to  submit  with  grace  to 
necessity,  and  being  opposed  on  principle  to  gratifying  his  peo- 
ple, as  long  as  he  could  in  any  way  avoid  it.  As  a rebel  poet 
said  of  his  grandsire,  Charles  III,  a far  better  and  wiser  man, 

“ Murio  de  mandar  hario,” 

he  died  of  a surfeit  of  power!  We  may  pardon  power  many 
of  its  enormities  for  having  ultimately  become  his  executioner! 

Upon  the  death  of  Ferdinand,  the  Queen  Regent  his  widow 
Cristina,  would  have  willingly  adhered  to  the  simple  despotism 
which  he  had  taken  so  much  pains  to  establish,  but  Don  Carlos, 
the  brother  of  the  late  king,  declared  himself  at  once  the  legiti- 
mate heir  to  the  crown,  and  Cristina  was  compelled  to  make 
friends,  as  she  best  might,  for  her  infant  daughter,  who  had 
been  proclaimed  Queen  under  the  title  of  Isabella  the  Se- 
cond. Don  Carlos  being  an  ignorant  and  narrow  minded 
bigot,  whose  chronology  of  ideas  came  down  no  lower  than  the 
fifteenth  century,  of  course  rallied  around  him  the  most  influ- 
ential and  active  partisans  of  the  stationary  and  retrograde 
schools  in  government  and  ecclesiastical  policy.  Cristina  con- 
sequently had  no  alternative,  but  to  throw  herself  and  her 
daughter  into  the  arms  of  the  liberal  party.  It  was  an  alliance 
of  interest,  not  of  love,  on  the  Regent’s  part,  and  the  smiles  of 
heaven  were  never  upon  it.  Her  first  step  was  an  attempt  to 


11 


\ 


compromise  between  despotism  and  a liberal  system,  by  the  pro- 
mulgation of  the  Estatuto  Real , or  Royal  Statute,  a quasi-con- 
stitution, which  was  in  reality  worse  than  nothing,  for  it  merely 
added  the  attractive  semblance  of  popular  representation  to  the 
usual  conveniences  of  absolute  rule.  The  liberal  party  had  de- 
voted themselves  with  unfaltering  faith  to  the  throne  of  Isabella. 
It  was  the  cause  not  merely  of  freedom  and  the  future,  but  of 
chivalry — of  a royal  widow  and  a helpless  girl — and  they  were 
ready  to  die  for  it,  as  their  fathers  died,  for  God  and  Isabella  the 
Catholic,  on  the  Yega  of  Granada.  Yet  they  were  too  wise  not 
to  know  the  folly  of  trusting  altogether  to  Bourbon  generosity 
or  justice.  They  had  just  come  home  from  the  banishment 
into  which  kingly  treachery  had  twice  sent  them,  and  they  knew 
that  Cristina  was  of  the  House  of  Naples.  The  Estatuto  Real , 
therefore,  could  not  satisfy  them.  The  Queen  Regent,  being  a 
Bourbon,  was  of  course  deaf  to  reason  and  experience,  and  the 
result  was  that  in  the  summer  of  1836,  she  found  herself  com- 
pelled, amid  the  bayonets  of  a rebellious  soldiery,  to  sign  a de- 
cree for  the  promulgation,  once  again,  of  the  Constitution  of 
1812-20.  This  was  but  the  prelude  to  the  meeting  of  a Con- 
stituent Cortes,  or  as  we  would  call  it,  a Constitutional  Conven- 
tion, whose  labors  were  crowned,  in  June,  1837,  by  the  adop- 
tion of  yet  another  fundamental  law. 

When  the  constitutional  system  was  overthrown  in  1823,  the 
liberal  party  had  been  long  enough  in  power  to  be  broken  into 
factions.  The  principal  point  of  difference  was  that  which  di- 
vides all  popular  parties — the  question  as  to  where  progress  should 
end  and  conservatism  begin.  Ten  years  of  persecution  and 
sorrow  seemed  but  to  have  confirmed  the  advocates  of  each  set 
of  doctrines  in  their  original  convictions,  and  when  the  necessi- 
ties of  Queen  Cristina  recalled  them  all  to  the  responsibilities  of 
government,  it  was  but  a signal  for  the  revival  of  old  disorders. 
The  conservative  liberals  had  become  satisfied  more  than  ever, 
that  they  could  only  escape  the  uncertainties  of  the  past  by 
centralizing  the  administration,  strengthening  constitutionally 
the  hands  of  the  executive,  and  appealing  to  loyal  and  conserva- 
tive traditions.  The  men  of  progress,  on  the  other  hand,  were 
quite  as  thoroughly  convinced  that  too  many  concessions  had  al- 
ready been  made  to  the  monarchical  and  central  idea,  and  they 
believed  that  they  could  see  in  those  concessions  the  true  secret  of 


12 


the  downfall  of  former  free  institutions.  The  Regent  being  a 
Q,ueen,  and  as  I have  said,  a Neapolitan,  of  course  followed 
but  her  instinct,  in  supposing  that  conservative  liberalism  was  a 
lesser  evil,  than  the  same  iniquity  rampant  with  the  spirit  of 
change.  She  therefore,  without  hesitation  united  her  fortunes 
with  those  of  the  moderados , between  whom  and  the  progre- 
sistas  the  breach  was  made,  daily,  wider,  by  the  struggle  for 
power. 

Party  names,  like  all  other  words  which  typify  practical 
opinions,  signify  much  or  little,  according  to  their  latitudes  and 
the  circumstances  which  surround  them.  Most  things,  indeed, 
owe  a great  deal  to  the  light  in  which  we  see  them  and  the  eyes 
we  look  with.  You  all  remember  Lord  Kaimes’  illustration,  of 
the  fine  lady  and  the  clergyman  who  were  looking  at  the  moon 
together  through  a telescope.  “ I see  two  shadows,”  said  the 
lady,  “and  they  incline  towards  each  other.  Doubtless  they 
are  two  happy  lovers!”  “Your  pardon,  madam,”  cried  the 
priest,  “they  are  obviously  the  two  towers  of  a Cathedral!” 
A progresista  who  might  be  deemed  quite  rabid  and  dangerous 
in  Spain,  would  be  a pale  and  twinkling  light,  in  comparison 
with  the  most  subdued  exhibition  of  those  democratical  pyro- 
technics, which  are  considered,  at  their  brightest,  as  quite  harm- 
less among  us.  The  most  unenterprising  moderado , on  the 
other  hand,  might  be  taken  for  quite  a revolutionist,  in  contrast 
with  the  orthodox  royalists  who  adhered  to  Don  Carlos  and  were 
addicted  to  swear  upon  the  holiness  of  the  anointed — men  who 
would  have  gloried  in  re-establishing,  for  church  and  state,  the 
maxims  and  practices  of  Philip  the  Second  and  Antonio  Perez, 
without  a spark  of  the  intellect  or  energy  which  gave  respecta- 
bility and  dignity  to  that  grand  though  gloomy  despotism! 

The  two  fractions  of  the  liberal  party,  therefore  were  not 
quite  as  far  apart,  in  reality,  as  they  seemed  to  be — and  al- 
though— by  dwelling  on  their  peculiar  points  of  difference,  each 
to  defend  and  fortify  his  own — each  grew  more  absolute  and 
more  exclusive — the  moderado  more  moderate  and  the  progre- 
sista more  progressive — they  were  still  near  enough  together,  in 
1837,  to  find  some  terms  of  compromise.  Perhaps  the  pre- 
sence of  a common  enemy  suggested  to  them  the  necessity  of 
union.  The  cause  of  Don  Carlos — though  unacceptable  to  the 
more  enlightened  portion  of  the  population — the  inhabitants  of 


13 


the  cities  and  large  towns  especially — was  still  deep  in  the  affec- 
tions of  the  rural  districts.  New  ideas  do  not  enter  rapidly, 
where  the  men  who  are  to  carry  and  receive  them  have  access 
to  each  other,  only  by  mule-paths,  over  rugged  mountains. 
Mac-Adamized  roads  are  a great  help  to  free  principles.  It 
was,  consequently,  a universal  rule,  that  the  fastnesses  of  the 
hills  and  their  almost  inaccessible  valleys,  were  strongholds  of 
Carlism.  ,The  liberal  party  were  compelled  to  regard  this  as 
a fixed  fact,  and  to  act  accordingly.  Although,  therefore, 
the  Cortes  of  1837  were  under  the  exclusive  control  of  the 
j orogresistas,  they  had  the  prudence,  as  well  as  the  magna- 
nimity, to  make  such  concessions  to  their  opponents,  as  removed 
the  most  substantial  objections  to  the  Constitution  of  1812,  and 
united  in  its  support,  for  a time  at  least,  almost  all  the  advocates 
of  a constitutional  system.  There  seemed  to  be  in  prospect  for 
a while,  one  of  those  political  millenniums,  which  are  so  often 
prophesied,  but  never  happen,  even  in  countries  where  political 
augury  ought  to  be  a more  demonstrative  science  than  in  Spain. 

In  August,  1839,  the  death-blow  was  given  to  the  hopes  of 
Don  Carlos,  and  in  1840,  the  feeble  remnant  of  his  army  was 
put  to  rout.  Espartero,  the  victorious  leader  of  the  government 
forces,  was  a progresista  in  his  politics,  and  naturally  enough 
availed  himself  of  his  prestige  with  the  nation,  to  elevate  and 
fortify  the  position  of  his  party,  which  at  that  time  was  very 
much  depressed.  A moderado  majority,  in  the  Cortes,  had  just 
adopted  a law  adverse  to  the  municipal  organization  which  the 
liberal  party  had  always  so  vigorously  upheld.  The  progre- 
sistas  continued  to  regard  the  free  municipal  system  as  one  of 
the  chief  bulwarks  of  provincial  and  popular  rights,  against  that 
absorbing  centralization,  towards  which  the  moderado , like  the 
old  despotic,  doctrines  tended.  Espartero  endeavored  to  procure 
from  Cristina  a veto  on  the  obnoxious  statute,  and  a dissolution 
of  the  legislature  which  had  enacted  it.  Cristina  refused  to 
yield.  A popular  outbreak  was  the  result,  which  was  followed 
by  her  Majesty’s  resignation  of  the  Regency,  in  1840,  and  her 
immediate  departure  for  France.  Espartero  was  elected  Re- 
gent, in  her  stead,  and  the  progresistas , for  a little  while,  had 
everything  in  their  own  hands. 

In  Calderon’s  beautiful  drama  of  the  Cisma  de  Inglaterra — 
the  English  Schism — or  as  we  call  it,  the  Reformation  in  Eng- 


14 


land — the  melancholy  Catharine  of  Arragon,  in  the  depth  of 
her  desolation  and  disgrace,  calls  on  her  maidens  for  a song,  in 
which  they  ask  the  very  flowers  to  learn,  from  her.  how  all 
things  fleet  and  fade!  The  chances  and  changes  of  Spanish 
politics  might  give  as  serious  instruction  to  the  leaves  and  grass, 
as  the  vicissitudes  of  Henry’s  victim!  In  the  summer  of  1843, 
Espartero,  Duke  of  Victory,  Regent  and  Saviour  of  the  realm, 
was  a fugitive  on  board  an  English  steamer  in  the  Bay  of  Ca- 
diz— stripped  of  his  titles,  and  stigmatized  in  a ministerial 
decree  as  “bearing  the  mark  of  public  execration!”  With 
Espartero,  fell  the  friends  who  had  clung  to  him  and  the  supre- 
macy of  the  doctrines  they  had  espoused.  In  the  face  of  the 
Constitution,  which  expressly  provided  that  the  age  of  fourteen 
should  be  the  term  of  the  royal  minority — Isabella — a child 
not  quite  thirteen — was  declared  of  full  age,  and  invested  with 
the  symbols  of  dominion.  Then  commenced  the  predominant 
influence  of  Narvaez,  Duke  of  Valencia — a man  of  mark  and 
greatness — who,  from  that  time  to  the  present,  has,  directly  or 
indirectly,  in  person  or  by  influence,  ruled  the  destinies  of  the 
Peninsula.  It  was  under  the  influence  of  Narvaez  and  the 
modercido  party,  that  the  Constitution  of  1845  was  adopted — 
which,  down  to  the  latest  dates  by  the  steamers,  continued  to 
be  preached  from,  at  Madrid,  as  the  fundamental  text.  Nor  is 
it  likely  to  be  soon  changed.  The  science  of  interpretation  has 
gradually  superseded  the  older  and  clumsier  methods  of  dis- 
pensing with  obnoxious  provisions,  and  all  parties  seem  to  have 
adopted,  in  Spain,  a rule — elsewhere,  quite  illustrious — that  of 
administering  Constitutions  “as  they  understand  them.”  In 
such  case,  you  know,  one  form  answers  about  as  well  as  an- 
other. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  add  to  these  details — which  I have 
already  crowded  too  thickly  upon  you — by  an  analysis  of  the 
present  fundamental  law  of  Spain.  It  is,  no  doubt,  defective 
in  many  particulars — perhaps  positively  bad,  in  others.  It  no 
doubt  gives  to  the  central  administration  an  absorbing  influence, 
hardly  compatible  with  that  development  of  provincial  interests 
and  preservation  of  provincial  rights  which  must,  ultimately,  be 
demanded  by  the  national  prosperity.  It  no  doubt  retains  many 
of  the  executive  features,  which  owe  their  origin  to  the  times 
when  Constitutions  were  not  in  vogue.  It  is  unquestionably 


15 


loose  in  many  of  those  provisions  which  vitally  regard  the  lib- 
erty of  the  subject.  It  admits  constructions,  which  ought  never 
to  be  allowed,  in  respect  to  matters  which  should  not  be  left  in 
doubt.  Yet — on  the  whole — in  its  framework  and  design,  and 
in  the  mass  of  its  elements — it  is  a free  Constitution — practically 
more  free,  I believe,  when  the  habits  and  temper  of  the  people 
are  considered  along  with  it — than  the  system  of  any  other  nation 
on  the  continent  has  ever  been.  It  is  restrictive,  in  its  religious 
requirements — adopting  the  Catholic,  as  the  religion  of  the  State, 
and  giving  no  formal  toleration  to  any  other — but  this  is  not  felt 
to  be  a grievance,  by  a people  who  are  all  Catholics,  and  who  find, 
in  the  identification  of  their  faith  with  the  political  guaranties  of 
the  State,  one  of  the  strongest  claims  which  the  Constitution  has 
on  their  allegiance.  It  is  thoroughly  monarchical — but  this  is  in- 
dispensable, to  a people  whose  traditions — and  prejudices  even — 
are  monarchical  altogether — a people  who,  in  practice  and  from 
conviction,  regard  loyalty  as  one  of  the  loftiest  virtues  and  most 
sacred  and  necessary  duties.  There  are  really,  in  Spain,  no  re- 
publicans or  democrats — or  at  all  events,  no  persons  seriously  con- 
templating the  establishment,  at  any  time  to  come,  of  a republic 
or  a democracy.  The  sense  of  personal  independence  is  as  high 
and  scrupulous  there,  as  it  can  be  anywhere — not  excepting  our 
own  country.  And  there  is  a republican  element  too,  in  the 
character  of  the  Spaniards,  which,  I believe  exists  no  where 
else,  at  the  degree  in  which  they  possess  it.  Your  American 
citizen  will  concede  to  you,  no  doubt — if  you  ask  him  to  do  so 
— that  other  people  are  as  good  as  he.  But  this  is  not  the  prin- 
ciple which  he  sets  chiefly  forth,  in  his  life  and  conversation. 
It  is  the  reverse  of  the  medal — it  is  the  conviction — the  practi- 
cal demonstration — that  he  is  as  good  as  other  people.  He  will 
not  deny — he  dares  not  deny — the  equality  of  others  with  him- 
self— but  he  goes  about  always  asserting  his  equality  with  others. 
The  Spaniard,  on  the  contrary,  has  a sense  of  equality,  which 
blesses  him  who  gives  as  well  as  him  who  takes.  If  he  re- 
quires the  concession  from  others,  he  demands  it,  chiefly  and 
emphatically,  through  the  concessions  which  he  makes  to  them. 
There  is  so  much  self-respect  involved  in  his  respect  to  others 
and  in  his  manifestation  of  it,  that  reciprocity  is  unavoidable. 
To  this,  and  this  mainly,  is  attributable  the  high  courteous  bear- 
ing, which  is  conspicuous  in  all  the  people,  and  which  renders 


16 


the  personal  intercourse  of  the  respective  classes  and  conditions, 
less  marked  by  strong  and  invidious  distinctions,  than  in  any 
other  nation  with  whose  manners  and  customs  I am  familiar. 

But  with  this  eminently  republican  temper  the  loyalty  of  the 
Spaniards  to  their  monarch  is  perfectly  compatible.  There  is 
no  servility  in  it.  It  is  homage  paid  to  the  individual,  as  iden- 
tified with  an  institution.  The  prince  is  the  embodiment  of 
their  nationality — the  representative  of  past  glory  and  present 
unity.  They  rally  round  the  throne,  in  spite  of  the  frailties  or 
crimes  of  him  who  fills  it.  They  are  no  worshippers  of  Ferdi- 
nand or  Isabella — no  martyrs  for  Carlos — but  liege-men  to  the 
person  whom  they  believe  to  be  the  rightful  monarch  of  the 
Spains.  It  is  a matter  of  great  uncertainty,  therefore,  whether 
the  most  perfect  system  of  free  institutions  which  the  Spaniards 
will  ever  adopt,  will  lack — though  it  may  modify — the  monar- 
chical feature.  At  present,  certainly,  it  is  folly  to  suppose  the 
abolition  of  monarchy  possible,  and  still  greater  folly  to  suppose, 
because  of  such  impossibility,  that  Spain  has  no  title  to  be  regis- 
tered among  the  nations  whose  institutions  are  liberal. 

It  is  sometimes  said,  and  with  a good  deal  of  truth,  that  the 
machinery  of  the  Spanish  elective  system  is  often  so  managed  as 
to  make  the  legislative  majorities  echo,  for  the  most  part,  the  will 
of  the  Executive.  This  is  an  evil — a gross  one — but  still  an  evil 
not  easily  avoided,  at  first,  where  the  executive  administration  has 
been  maturing  for  centuries,  and  the  elective  machinery  is  new 
and  of  course  comparatively  clumsy.  Yet  the  evil  is  neither 
a fatal  nor  a hopeless  one.  The  veiy  intrigues  of  the  execu- 
tive, to  manage  the  legislature,  are  a concession  to  the  represen- 
tative idea.  Even  when  successful,  they  are  an  acknowledg- 
ment of  legislative  supremacy — because  they  show  that  power, 
to  maintain  itself,  feels  the  necessity  of  speaking  by  the  mouth 
of  the  law.  And  even  at  the  worst  of  times,  in  any  represen- 
tative government,  where  there  is  liberty  of  speech  and  a press 
with  any  liberty,  a minority  is  always  a refuge  for  freedom  and 
for  right.  I have  heard,  in  the  Cortes  of  Spain — in  the  face  of 
an  overwhelming  ministerial  majority — the  measures  of  the  ad- 
ministration canvassed,  with  an  openness  and  an  ability  and 
courage  which  any  legislative  body  of  the  day  would  find  it  diffi- 
cult to  surpass.  It  is  by  no  means  rare  to  see  the  policy  of  an 
administration  changed,  in  spite  of  ministerial  majorities  and  the 


17 


prestige  of  the  crown — by  the  mere  vigor  of  appeals  which  vi- 
brated, from  the  tribune  of  the  Deputies,  to  the  hearts  of  the 
masses  of  the  people.  It  is  impossible  that  there  can  be  any  great 
and  permanent  wrong  in  government,  where  there  is  thus  free  dis- 
cussion. Error  and  misrule  are  plants  which  cannot  grow  in  the 
light.  And  when — coupled  with  and  qualifying  the  prerogatives 
and  personal  immunity  of  the  monarch,  are  the  principle  and 
exaction  of  ministerial  responsibility — responsibility  of  life,  lib- 
erty and  fortune,  for  the  prostitution  or  abuse  of  power — I can- 
not think  that  error  and  misrule  are  to  be  dreaded,  much  or  long. 

Nor  am  I prepared  to  say — that  even  if  it  were  practicable,  or 
had  been  so — a more  democratical  Constitution  would  be,  or 
would  for  ten  years  past,  have  been — desirable  for  Spain.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  my  unequivocal  judgment  that  it  would  have 
been  no  blessing.  You  may  establish  and  alter  constitutions — 
publish  programmes — put  forth  proclamations — sing  te  Deums 
and  fire  salvoes  of  artillery — but  it  is  all  vanity  and  emptiness 
of  sound,  unless  there  be  an  adaptation  of  the  system,  which 
you  introduce  or  welcome,  to  the  character  and  condition  of  the 
people  on  whom  it  is  bestowed.  Institutions  must  be  made  for 
men  as  they  are.  They  may  be  a little  in  advance,  so  as  to 
lead  men  on — but  they  must  not  be  so  far  before  as  to  lead 
men  astray.  You  may  change  men  by  degrees — but  since  the 
days  of  Titania  and  Oberon  they  have  ceased  to  be  capable  of 
instant  metamorphosis — unless  indeed  you  turn  their  heads  like 
Nick  Bottom’s — and  then,  the  only  marvel  is  the  length  of  their 
ears.  Nature  is  prodigal  of  lessons  to  us  in  this  particular. 
Her  permanent  processes  are  all  gradual.  Far  down  beneath  the 
magnificent  surface  which  the  earth  now  spreads  before  us,  are 
traces  of  the  slime  and  ooze,  from  which,  in  the  long  march  of 
countless  ages,  arose,  one  by  one,  with  mighty  steps  and  slow, 
the  new  forms  which  have  been  developed  unto  us  and  the 
things  about  us!  Everything  that  is  to  endure,  must  have  time 
to  grow.  The  marble  and  the  granite  which  build  our  palaces 
and  castles  are  not  the  products  of  a day.  The  oak  whose 
rugged  fibre  braces  their  walls  together,  is  a century,  it  may  be, 
in  climbing  from  its  acorn  to  the  leaf  which  catches,  earliest, 
the  rain  of  heaven.  It  is  only  the  fungus,  which  is  matured  in 
a single  night.  Of  the  fairer  and  more  fragrant,  quick-blossom- 
ing flowers  of  the  field,  George  Herbert  has  truly  and  sadly  said, 
3 


18 


“ Their  root  is  ever  in  their  grave, 

And  they  must  die!” 

Ferdinand  and  Isabella  did  not  make  Moorish  Spain  Christian, 
simply  by  tearing  the  crescent  from  the  towers  of  the  Alhambra. 
It  cost  long  years  of  merciful  labor,  in  teaching — of  sinful  labor, 
in  persecution — to  eradicate  the  old  faith  and  plant  the  new. 
And  a change  of  government — a deep,  substantial,  real  change 
which  shall  go  from  the  surface  to  the  centre  of  society — which 
shall  touch  the  feelings  and  reach  the  convictions  of  men — 
which  shall  revolutionize  their  modes  of  thought,  and  consoli- 
date into  practical,  operative  wisdom,  their  theories  and  hopes 
and  longings — such  a change  is  almost  as  difficult  as  a revolu- 
tion in  their  faith.  It  is  more  difficult  perhaps — inasmuch  as 
that  which  deals  with  the  unknown  is  more  open  to  the  access 
of  the  imagination,  and  of  course  more  liable  to  be  swiftly  turned 
by  its  quick-handed  power! 

Now,  what  a picture  does  the  history  of  Spain  present  to  us, 
from  the  earliest  ages  of  which  history  speaks?  War  and  noth- 
ing but  war!  War  foreign — war  domestic!  The  invasion  of 
strangers  and  civil  broil!  The  Phoenician — the  Carthaginian — 
the  Roman — the  Goth — the  Saracen  and  the  Gaul — each  tread- 
ing all  things,  in  his  turn,  under  his  shodden  heel!  Then — the 
home-struggles  between  dynasties  and  aspirants  to  power — the 
array  of  conflicting  opinions,  and  personal,  and  local,  and  pro- 
vincial interests  and  hatreds — what  field  have  they  not  blighted, 
which  had  escaped  the  invader’s  firebrand?  Glory — the  nation 
has  had — power — splendor — empire — gold — but  peace  never — 
peace,  the  messenger  of  love — peace,  from  beneath  the  spread- 
ing of  whose  wings,  alone,  the  glad  tidings  of  happiness  can 
go  up  from  earth! 

I remember  (if  you  will  pardon  the  digression)  standing,  once, 
within  the  gallery  which  runs  around  the  highest  accessible  in- 
ternal point  of  the  great  dome  of  St.  Peter’s,  at  Rome.  It  was 
a day — not  of  pontifical  celebration,  but  still  of  high  solemnity 
— and  they  were  singing  a grand  mass  in  the  chapel  of  the 
choir,  as  I went  up.  From  the  immense  elevation  at  which  I 
stood,  the  high  altar  and  its  gorgeous  canopy — moulded  into 
majesty  from  the  bronzes  of  the  heathen  Pantheon — seemed 
but  a trifling  and  a shapeless  heap.  The  golden  lamps  which 
burn  all  night  and  day  before  the  shrine,  sent  not  a single  ray 


19 


to  me.  The  few  stragglers,  who  loitered  through  the  nave  and 
transepts,  seemed  but  as  creeping  insects.  The  noise  and  tur- 
moil of  the  world  without  were  shut  away  from  me.  The  only 
distinct  impression  made  upon  my  giddy  senses,  was — now,  by 
the  rising  swell  of  a low,  distant,  holy  harmony — and  then, 
by  the  fragrant  perfume  of  the  incense — as  together  they  went 
upon  their  way  towards  the  sky!  It  was  a solemn  moment  to 
me.  It  repaid,  ten  thousand  fold,  the  pains  and  privations  of  a 
sick  man’s  pilgrimage,  and  amid  a press  of  feelings  such  as  make 
a life-time  of  an  instant,  it  engraved,  forever,  on  my  heart,  the 
deep  conviction,  that  the  struggles  and  the  strife — the  storms  and 
battles — that  harass  men  and  nations,  are  tilings  “of  the  earth, 
earthy,”  and  rise  no  higher — and  that  the  accents  of  harmony 
and  the  breath  of  peace  are  the  only  bearers  upward  of  worship 
that  will  not  fall  short! 

Come  then,  in  whatever  form  it  may — that  government  which 
gives  peace  to  a distracted  land — which  brings  brother  to  brother, 
from  the  field  of  carnage  to  the  home  of  plenty — which  gives 
time  and  rest  and  opportunity,  for  the  pursuit  of  lofty  objects  and 
the  development  of  human  happiness — call  it  by  what  name,  or 
couple  it  with  what  institutions  you  may — that  government  is  a 
blessing,  and  its  establishment  is  one  step  forward  in  the  march 
of  civilization! 

It  is  in  the  light  of  the  principles  thus  announced,  that  I com- 
mend, with  all  its  faults,  the  system  of  policy  established  by  the 
moderado  party  in  Spain,  and  particularly  directed  and  carried 
out  by  the  leader  of  that  party,  General  Narvaez.  It  has  had 
its  abuses  and  has  them  now,  no  doubt.  It  may,  in  some  de- 
gree, have  owed  its  origin  to  the  desire  of  power — perhaps  as 
much  so,  as  to  any  enlarged  views  of  statesmanship  or  compre- 
hensive ideas  of  political  philosophy.  But  I am  inclined  to 
think  it  has  not  been  without  its  due  share  of  these  last.  I be- 
lieve Narvaez,  though  an  ambitious  and  somewhat  unscrupu- 
lous man,  to  have  been  eminently  patriotic  and  national,  and  I 
am  sure  that  posterity  will  do  him  the  justice  to  concede  that  he 
has  been  guided,  in  his  many  high-handed  measures  during  the 
last  few  years,  by  an  unshaken,  even  if  it  be  a too  monopolizing 
devotion  to  the  constitutional  throne,  in  whose  maintenance  he 
believes  that  the  welfare  of  his  country  is  involved.  One  thing 
is  beyond  all  cavil,  and  that  is,  that  his  indomitable  and  sleep- 


20 


less  will  has  been  the  staff  on  which  the  peace  of  the  nation 
has  rested.  To  him  mainly , is  attributable  the  fact — which 
cannot  be  gainsaid — that  Spain  has  remained  more  calm,  and 
has  gone  on  more  quietly  and  surely  in  her  march  of  peaceful  de- 
velopment, than  any  other  nation  of  continental  Europe,  since  the 
convulsions  of  the  last  French  Revolution.  In  the  only  serious 
outbreak  which  has  occurred  in  Spain  since  that  eventful  epoch 
— the  temporary  insurrection  in  Madrid  in  March,  1848, — a 
supposed  participation  in  which  resulted  in  the  abrupt  and  per- 
emptory dismissal  of  Sir  Henry  Bulwer — Narvaez,  Prime  Min- 
ister of  Spain,  fought  side  by  side  with  the  soldiers  in  the 
Plaza.  In  his  personal  discharge  of  duty  then,  as  always,  he 
displayed  the  fearless  energy,  which,  with  a broad  and  deep 
sagacity,  had  established  throughout  the  kingdom,  a firm  ba- 
sis for  the  maintenance  of  peace.  I do  not  deny  that  the  result 
was  a temporary  dictatorship.  I do  not  deny  that  men  of  the 
opposing  party,  distinguished  for  ability  and  patriotism,  were 
driven  into  exile,  with  despotic  haste,  on  mere  suspicion  of 
revolutionary  designs.  It  is  not  to  be  concealed  that  the  bar- 
riers, which  had  been  raised  to  protect  the  people  from  the 
encroachments  of  power,  were  temporarily  overleaped;  that  in 
the  reaction  which  followed  the  attempted  revolution — and 
which,  even  yet,  has  not  subsided  altogether — the  ostensible 
progress  of  entirely  free  institutions  was  embarrassed  and  check- 
ed. To  those  who  look  only  at  the  surface — who  judge  of 
things  according  to  their  names — who  prefer 

the  braggart  shout 

For  some  blind  glimpse  of  freedom,” 

to  the  real  and  substantial,  but  unostentatious,  advancement  bf 
liberal  institutions,  in  the  shape  which  circumstances  may  give 
them — to  such,  it  may  certainly  appear  that  these  results  have 
weakened  the  claim  of  Spain  to  be  held  among  free  nations. 
But  it  is  not  difficult,  on  the  other  hand,  to  show  that  the 
prosperity,  the  happiness,  the  permanent  good  of  the  people 
were  rescued  and  secured  by  the  reactionary  course  of  the 
government.  Like  individuals,  nations  which  have  suffered 
much,  are  not  apt  to  trifle  and  ought  not  to  be  trifled  with. 
Relief  such  as  they  require,  is  that  which  they  should  seek — a 
reality,  not  an  abstraction.  Better  far  that  an  hundred  constitu- 


21 


tional  provisions  should  have  been  trodden  under  foot  for  a while, 
than  that  the  nation,  for  whose  preservation  they  were  made, 
should  have  been  plunged  into  discord  and  wo,  for  the  formality 
of  their  observance.  Better  a brief  dictatorship,  with  peace, 
than  the  nominal  triumph  of  exaggerated  liberalism,  with  the 
renewal  of  anarchy,  and  the  certainty  of  desolation!  Better 
one  evil  than  a thousand!  Better  the  annihilation  of  an  hun- 
dred forms,  than  the  infliction  of  one,  deep  and  real  curse! 

What  has  been  the  practical  result?  The progresista  orators 
have  been  eloquently  denunciatory.  The  progresista  press  has 
been  loud  and  angry,  and,  it  may  be,  has  had  the  logic  on  its 
side.  The  English  journals — remembering  that  the  triumph  of 
Narvaez  was  the  knell  of  British  influence — have  teemed  with 
diatribes  against  the  existing  order  of  things,  and  lamentations 
over  the  relapse  of  the  Spanish  people  into  the  abuses  of  the 
older  despotism.  On  this  side  of  the  water,  we  have  echoed 
back  the  British  voice,  until  we  have  persuaded  ourselves  that 
Spain  and  Austria  stand,  side  by  side,  the  representatives  and 
champions  of  all  that  deserves  the  hatred  and  contempt  of  free- 
men! Yet — in  spite  of  all  this — the  Spanish  people  have  gone 
on — slowly  it  may  be  according  to  our  ideas  and  our  customs — 
but  steadily  and  surely — advancing  their  material  and  social  in- 
terests, and  developing  their  territorial  and  industrial  wealth. 
Hitherto,  or  till  within  a few  years  back,  their  agricultural  pros- 
perity was  rendered  impossible,  by  their  defective  means  of  in- 
ternal communication.  It  was  in  vain  that  a propitious  soil  and 
climate  brought  to  ripeness  and  plenty  the  most  bountiful  har- 
vests— if  the  grain  rotted,  in  the  fields  or  in  the  granaries,  for 
lack  of  roads  over  which  it  might  be  borne  to  other  provinces 
where  it  was  needed,  or  to  the  shores  of  the  sea,  whence  it  might 
pass  to  feed  the  stranger  and  bring  back  the  stranger’s  wealth. 
Commerce  was  bent  down  to  the  earth  by  the  pressure  of  pro- 
hibitory enactments,  which  rendered  the  profession  of  the  honor- 
able merchant  but  a means  of  decent  starvation,  and  handed  the 
whole  treasury  of  traffic  to  the  smuggler  and  his  infamous  abet- 
tors, foreign  and  domestic.  Manufactures,  for  many  years,  had 
ceased  to  be  a source  of  wealth,  except  where  favored  in  an  un- 
usual degree  by  natural  or  casual  advantages,  or  by  the  mainten- 
ance of  the  most  arbitrary  and  unjust  monopolies.  Capital, 
indeed,  could  not  possibly  be  led  into  channels — no  matter  how 


22 


tempting — which  mighty  at  any  moment,  be  diverted  or  be 
drained,  by  the  outbreaking  of  revolutions,  or  the  fluctuations 
of  civil  war  and  uncertain  institutions. 

During  the  few  years  which  have  elapsed  since  the  conclusion 
of  the  Carlist  rebellion — and  more  than  ever,  during  the  last 
three  or  four — the  evils  thus  enumerated  have  been  gradually 
disappearing.  A system  of  turnpike-roads,  upon  the  amplest 
scale,  has  been  projected  and  is  advancing,  every  day,  more 
widely  and  substantially.  Already  many  roads  have  been 
finished,  which  have  given  outlets  to  stagnant  production,  and  set 
in  motion  sources  of  national  and  individual  wealth  which  have 
been  torpid  for  centuries.  The  canal-ization  (as  they  call  it,) 
of  the  Ebro — which  will  develop,  to  a miraculous  degree,  the 
resources  and  the  energies  of  the  central  grain-growing  regions — 
is  not  only  in  contemplation,  but  in  vigorous,  active  hands  for 
prosecution.  Several  rail-roads  have  been  completed — short  and 
comparatively  unimportant  it  is  true — but  yet  so  useful,  within 
their  limits,  as  to  satisfy  the  nation  of  the  paramount  advantage 
of  that  means  of  transportation.  That  which  is,  daily,  in  ope- 
ration, between  Madrid  and  Aranjuez,  is  not  only  the  beginning 
of  a great  central  line,  which  is  to  unite  the  plains  of  Castile 
with  the  fertile  shores  and  numerous  ports  of  the  Mediterranean 
— but  is  destined,  of  itself,  to  be  a mighty  agent  in  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  grand  idea  which  projected  it — by  bringing  those 
who  work  the  springs  of  government,  at  the  Capital,  in  direct 
and  unavoidable  contact  with  the  wisdom,  and  value,  and  prac- 
ticability of  such  enterprises.  Economical  societies — national 
and  provincial,  dedicated  to  the  improvement  of  agriculture  and 
the  promotion  of  industry  of  all  sorts — have  sprung  up  all  over 
the  land.  Lyceums,  with  lectures — enlisting  the  best  talent, 
yet  gratuitously  delivered — are  beginning  to  do  good  service  in 
the  cities.  From  year  to  year,  new  modifications  of  the  tariff, 
a more  honest  administration  of  the  customs,  and  a more  vigi- 
lant guardianship  of  the  coasts,  have  increased — as  they  are  still 
increasing — the  national  revenue — and  infused  new  life  into 
external  and  internal  commerce.  Here  and  there,  manufac- 
turing establishments,  of  great  extent  and  employing  large 
capital,  are  in  successful  operation — breaking  down  by  the 
force  of  honest  and  energetic  competition,  the  monopolies  which 


23 


have  so  long  defied  the  will  of  the  people,  and  corrupted  the 
very  heart  of  the  government. 

As  the  re-establishment  of  peace  has  restored  confidence — so  its 
probable  permanence  has  given  that  confidence  root.  Capital 
which  before  had  sought  investment,  as  I have  said,  in  the  safer 
and  more  profitable  industry  and  speculation  of  other  countries, 
has  begun  to  look  at  home  for  employment.  When  I was  last 
in  Madrid,,  a committee  on  rail-roads,  headed  by  the  distinguished 
progresista  leader,  Mr.  Olozaga — an  able  and  enlightened  pub- 
lic man — was  sitting  during  the  recess  of  the  Cortes — bringing 
before  it  the  most  accomplished  engineers,  foreign  and  domestic 
— the  wealthiest,  capitalists  and  most  enterprising  and  public- 
spirited  citizens — consulting  with  them  all — seeking  information, 
practical  and  scientific,  from  all  sources — with  a view  to  build- 
ing up,  on  the  wisest,  most  judicious,  and  most  permanent  basis, 
a great  national  scheme  of  internal  improvement.  The  crea- 
tion of  corporations — formerly  almost  unheard  of,  except  as 
ecclesiastical  or  government  institutions — has  of  late  entered 
into  the  national  policy — care  being  taken  to  profit  by  the 
experience  of  other  nations  and  to  restrict  them  in  that  ten- 
dency to  abuse  which  has  occasionally  shorn  them,  elsewhere, 
of  one-half  their  capacity  for  good.  The  internal  police,  once 
so  entirely  neglected  as  to  place  life  and  property  almost  at  the 
mercy  of  the  reckless  and  lawless,  has  been  remodelled,  re- 
formed, and  so  judiciously  distributed  and  governed,  as  to  have 
already  materially  diminished  the  statistics  of  crime,  and  to  have 
diffused  that  salutary  conviction  of  the  certainty  of  punishment, 
which  is  the  first  step  toward  the  recognized  supremacy  of  the 
law. 

As  yet,  the  visible  effects  of  the  new  system  are  most  con- 
spicuous in  the  cities.  Madrid  has  grown,  so  greatly,  since  the 
death  of  Ferdinand  VII,  in  all  the  appliances  of  comfort  and 
indeed  magnificence,  social  and  external,  that  although  still  be- 
hind some  of  the  other  capitals  of  Europe,  it  would  hardly  be 
recognized  by  a traveller  of  twenty  years  back.  In  the  com- 
mercial cities,  the  march  of  prosperity  is  equally  conspicuous. 
All  of  them  give  token  of  it — to  some  extent.  In  some  of  them 
new  buildings — large  improvements — are  every  day  going  on. 
The  monastic  orders  having  been  suppressed  and  their  property 


24 


sequestered  and  sold,  the  monasteries  have  been  converted  into 
repositories  of  art,  or  public  edifices — or  have  been  demolished 
to  make  way  for  new  buildings,  or  for  public  places  of  orna- 
ment and  healthful  recreation. 

In  short — all  over  the  country — in  the  sunshine  and  security 
of  peace,  every  element  of  vitality  seems  to  have  germinated. 
After  the  frosts  and  inculture  of  so  many  dreary  years — the  soil 
may  have  yielded,  slowly  and  with  difficulty,  to  the  first  up- 
ward pressure  of  the  weak  shoots — but  their  roots  have  grown 
stronger,  and  they  are  now  above  the  surface,  catching  vigor 
from  the  air,  and  expanding  in  the  light.  The  day  is  not  very 
distant,  when  all  the  birds  of  good  omen  shall  gather  and  sing 
in  their  branches! 

When  more  perfect  means  of  communication  shall  have 
brought  the  people  together,  and  have  given  facility  and  fre- 
quency to  their  intercourse  and  rapidity  to  their  interchange  of 
thought  and  the  generalization  of  public  opinion,  then  the  time 
will  have  come  for  the  consolidation  of  a permanently  and 
thoroughly  free  system.  Then  the  nation  will  be  wise  enough 
to  establish  it — enlightened  enough  to  bear  it — strong  enough  to 
maintain  it.  Then  Spain  will  bless,  and  the  whole  civilized 
world  will  applaud,  the  probation  through  which  she  is  now 
passing — the  wise  delay,  which  hastens  the  coming  of  the  good 
it  but  seems  to  retard.  Then  it  will  be  seen,  that  the  slow  tra- 
vail was  needful  for  the  happy  birth.  History  will  have  another 
example,  from  which  to  teach,  that  through  the  tangled  web  of 
human  vicissitude,  national  as  well  as  individual,  runs — pre- 
cious, though  invisible  till  the  unravelling — the  golden  thread 
of  the  wisdom  and  providence  of  Heaven. 

Of  the  probable  direction  which  the  political  institutions  of 
Spain  will  take,  when  the  sense  of  the  nation,  enlightened 
and  mature,  shall  have  been  concentrated  upon  them,  it  is  of 
course  not  easy  to  speak  with  even  proximate  accuracy,  yet. 
The  general  tendency  of  things,  is  I think,  however,  towards  a 
federative  monarchy.  The  relations  between  Spain  and  Portugal 
and  the  feasibility  of  uniting  the  whole  Peninsula  as  one  nation 
were  the  subject  of  frequent  discussion,  both  public  and  private, 
when  I was  in  Madrid  last  year,  and  have,  I know,  furnished 
topics  of  interesting  consideration  to  the  peninsular  diplomacy. 


25 


It  seems  difficult  indeed  to  understand  how  a tendency,  which 
is  so  much  the  result  of  natural  circumstances,  can  be  long  re- 
sisted. But — leaving  Portugal  out  of  the  question — the  Spanish 
kingdom  has  more  of  the  federal  elements  than  any  nation  that  I 
know  of  in  Europe.  The  provinces — mostly  segregated  from 
each  other  by  natural  barriers — are  quite  as  much  so  by  their 
peculiar  and  respective  characters,  customs  and  laws.  The  sturdy 
Biscayan,  the  Switzer  of  the  Peninsula,  is  as  different,  in  his  per- 
sonal and  provincial  characteristics,  from  the  stolid  and  uncouth 
Gallician — the  industrious,  but  choleric  and  selfish  Catalan,  or 
the  witty,  flippant,  gallant,  bull- destroying  Andalusian — as  is  the 
burgher  of  Amsterdam  from  the  luxurious,  sun-loving  Neapo- 
litan. And  so  of  the  other  provinces.  Their  provincial  codes — 
their  forms — prescriptions — ideas — are  all  different.  Their  in- 
terests are  different — frequently  conflicting.  Their  costumes 
and  dialects  are  totally  distinct.  The  soil  they  till — the  pro- 
ducts they  consume — are  as  the  soil  and  products  of  remote  na- 
tions. Some  of  them  are  mountaineers — some  dwellers  upon 
boundless  plains — some  fishermen,  or  sailors,  or  manufacturers, 
or  cultivators  of  the  deep  green  vegas  that  beautify  the  borders 
of  the  sea.  Yet,  over  all,  and  binding  them  and  all  their  di- 
versities together,  is  the  iron  band  of  a beloved  and  time-hon- 
ored nationality.  Catalonians,  Biscayans,  Asturians,  Castilians 
— they  are  all  Spaniards!  Here  then  are  the  ingredients  of 
confederate  strength — municipal  diversity  and  national  identity 
— what  the  political  metaphysicians  disguise,  by  calling  it 
u unity  in  plurality  and  plurality  in  unity” — but  what  every 
body  understands,  quite  as  well,  from  phraseology  not  half  so 
awful. 

The  very  existence  of  these  elements — so  suggestive  of  con- 
federation, because  so  likely  to  produce  prosperity  under  and 
through  it — renders  it  next  to  impossible  to  uphold  the  present 
centralized  and  centralizing  system,  for  any  length  of  time, 
after  the  causes  of  improvement,  which  are  now  at  work,  shall 
have  made  it  as  easy  to  carry  out  as  it  now  is  to  discover,  what 
the  national  prosperity  demands.  The  very  distinction  in  pro- 
vincial characteristics — which  would  be  the  main  stay  of  a 
federal  union,  constituted  to  adopt  and  perpetuate  it,  as  far  as 
useful — is  productive  only  of  discord  and  discontents,  where 


4 


26 


provincial  wants  and  interests  are  merged  in  an  absorbing  con- 
solidation. Centralization,  which,  modified  by  federal  institu- 
tions, would  be  a blessing  to  every  part  and  communicate  to 
each  the  vigor  of  the  whole,  must,  in  its  nature,  crush  what  it 
attempts  unnaturally  to  amalgamate.  Two  things — each  in  its 
way  a good — are  blended  thus  into  one  evil.  Two  healthful 
ingredients  are  combined,  by  bad  chemistry,  into  a poison. 
This  cannot  last,  when  men  grow  able  to  appreciate  it  and  to 
change  it.  There  can  be  but  one  true  policy,  for  a people  in 
such  a condition,  and  that  is,  to  give  to  the  provincial  and  to 
the  national  element,  each,  its  separate  and  appropriate  sphere 
to  work  in — to  surround  the  throne,  which  shall  represent  the 
nation,  with  the  guaranties  which  shall  be  drawn  from  pros- 
perous states  united  to  form  and  to  defend  it.  That  such  will 
be  the  ultimate  shape  of  the  Spanish  commonwealth  I have  no 
doubt — but  men  have  had  no  .doubt,  before  this,  of  things 
which,  notwithstanding,  have  never  happened — and  the  ways 
of  nations — like  the  ways  of  the  power  that  rules  them — are 
truly  “in  the  depths  of  the  sea.”  Yet  I am  assured,  by  every 
argument  which  can  force  conviction — that  the  day  of  peril  to 
Spain,  from  the  oppression  of  her  government,  is  over.  It  may 
be  long  before  she  becomes  altogether  what  she  ought  to  be — she 
will  never  fall  back  into  what  she  has  been.  From  this  day 
forward,  her  march  must  necessarily  be  onward.  She  has  tasted 
the  lotus  of  freedom — the  tree  grows  by  her  side,  and  she  can 
never  let  the  fruit  fall  from  her  lips! 

I am  admonished,  by  the  progress  of  time,  that  I must  close, 
what  has  been,  necessarily,  a superficial  view  of  a wide  field. 
I have  done  all  that  I had  hoped,  if  I have  been  able  to  show 
to  those  who  have  done  me  the  honor  to  hear  me — that  instead 
of  reasons  for  discord  and  hatred,  there  is  every  reason  for  close 
and  kind  sympathy,  between  our  country  and  the  land  which 
sent  Columbus  forth  to  seek  the  soil  on  which  we  dwell,  far  off 
amid  the  trackless  Indian  seas.  If  other  nations,  which  are  en- 
deavoring to  break  their  chains  with  one  convulsive,  angry 
blow,  deserve  our  warm  enthusiasm  and  receive  it — shall  the 
same  feeling  be  denied  to  one,  which,  for  half  a century — 
through  blood  and  fire  at  first — and  then  through  sad  oppression, 
and  through  the  calmer  and  severer  trials  of  peaceful  revolution, 


27 


has  been  indomitably  working  out  her  gradual  but  sure  redemp- 
tion? Her  institutions  may  differ  from  ours.  Her  system  may 
be  imperfect;  her  power  may,  as  yet,  be  far  below  its  ancient 
scale  and  that  of  our  present  predominance;  but  the  fortitude 
and  perseverance  which  have  gone  thus  far  will  go  farther, 

‘ ‘ ever  reaping  something  new — 

That  which  they  have  done  but  earnest  of  the  things  that  they  shall  do.” 

If  we  are  devoted  to  human  freedom,  for  its  own  sake — 
whatever  be  the  shape  it  takes — it  becomes  us  to  welcome  a 
constitutional  monarchy  which  has  been  reared  upon  the  ruins 
of  a despotism.  That  monarchy  may  be  devoted,  in  appear- 
ance, rather  to  the  cause  of  order  than  the  cause  of  progress — 
but  in  Europe  order  is  the  road  to  progress,  and  there  have  been, 
of  late,  too  many  unhappy  illustrations  of  the  truth — that  the 
worst  of  despotisms  is  that  which  follows  an  abortive  and  too 
hasty  effort  to  be  free.  All  cannot  be  like  ourselves.  All 
need  not  be.  To  sympathize  with  none  but  those  who  adopt 
our  forms,  is  to  reverence  but  the  reproduction  of  ourselves — 
to  forget  that  which  is  in  us  and  in  our  forms,  and  makes  them 
and  us  what  we  are.  The  spirit  of  freedom  is  no  giant  of  mist 
and  vapor — like  the  Fisherman’s  Genie  in  the  Arabian  story — 
to  be  compressed  into  a single  vase,  and  kept  captive  there  by 
one  only  seal  and  spell.  The  magic  of  king  Solomon  has  not 
descended  exclusively  on  us,  that  we  alone  may  work  such 
wonders.  The  spirit  of  liberty  may  be  the  indwelling  soul  of 
institutions,  which  to  us  and  our  accustomed  thoughts  and  pre- 
judices may  bear  no  trace  of  it.  It  may  linger  amid  forms 
which  to  us  may  seem  the  meaningless  slough  of  antiquity  and 
barbarism.  It  may  be  where  we  least  look  for  it — a diamond, 
in  a cavern  where  we  see  but  darkness — gold,  beneath  a torrent 
whose  black  waters  make  us  tremble.  But  wherever  it  is — it 
makes  holy.  Its  forms  are  sacred,  be  they  uncouth  as  they 
may.  All  together  they  may  make  up,  what  singly  they  are  not 
— as  the  Faun  in  the  forest — the  Naiad  in  the  stream — the 
deities  of  Hades  and  Olympus — were  but  the  shapes  under 
which  the  religion  of  Eld  perpetuated  its  divided  worship  of  the 
one  pervading  and  indivisible  God! 


28 


If  we  are  the  depositaries  of  the  true  faith  of  Freedom , let 
us  remember  that  anathema  is  not  its  preaching — that  love  is  its 
bond  and  charity  its  crown!  Let  us  beware  how  we  give  it  to 
history,  to  say,  that  the  resources  which  Spain  needed  to  main- 
tain her,  in  her  toil  after  happiness,  development  and  freedom, 
were  wasted  to  protect  her  from  the  iniquity  of  republican  ag- 
gression! 


